BX 9225 
^35 N3 



In JKpmoriam. 

7 

1 

Rev. Charles W. Nassau, D.D., 

'Died August 6th, 7878, 

AND 

Mrs. Hannah H. Nassau, 

2>iedJ~tme 2 f$t, 7878. 

y 

1 1 




NEW YORK : 
TROWS PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, 
205-213 East Twelfth Street. 
1879. 



Qj 3jS 



In Kpmorianu 



DURING the summer of 1878, there failed from among 
the children of men two rare and precious lives — lives 
that for more than half a century had beautifully blended 
in the most sacred and intimate relations, and that for 
more than seventy years had been ripening for the 
better country. 

To not a few survivors the world seems lonely with- 
out them. 

The Rev. Charles William Nassau, D.D., was 
born in Philadelphia, Pa., April 12, 1804, and died, after 
a few weeks' decline, in Trenton, N. J., August 6, 1878, 
in the seventy-fifth year of his age. 

Mrs. Hannah Hamill Nassau was born in Norris- 
town, Pa., January 27, 1807, and died very suddenly in 
Trenton, N. J., June 21, 1878, in the seventy-second 
year of her age. 

The aim in the following pages will be to outline the 
principal incidents in the lives of Dr. and Mrs. Nassau, 
and put on record some tribute to their memory. 

They both came of a godly Presbyterian parentage, 
were well endowed with native gifts and educational 
accomplishments, were both converted in early life, and 
found, when their paths of life met and merged in mar- 
riage, that they were admirably fitted for each other in 
all their mutual sympathies, energies, and aims. They 
were helpers in one another's faith and joys. 



4 



IN MEMORIAM. 



In person Dr. Nassau was slender, tall, erect, self- 
controlled, gentle, benignant, and dignified. 

Mrs. Nassau was of medium height, of a fair and 
noble countenance, with an abundant overflow of viva- , 
city and amiability, and both were distinguished for a 
rich undercurrent of humor. 

Charles W. Nassau was the eldest son of William 
Nassau, senior, who was a native, and during his whole 
life a resident, of Philadelphia. He was born June 22, 
1 78 1. Soon after his marriage with Miss Ann Parkin- 
son, July 17, 1803, they both united with the Third 
Presbyterian Church (in old Pine Street), then under the 
pastoral care of Reverend Philip Milledoler. 

Subsequently Wm. Nassau was ordained a ruling 
elder, and in this position continued during the pastorate 
of Rev. Dr. Archibald Alexander, and also during that 
of Rev. Dr. Ezra S. Ely, until the schism of 1837-8. He 
then united with the Second Presbyterian Church under 
the ministry of Rev. Dr. C. C. Cuyler, and became a 
member of its session, in which capacity he was most 
faithful and efficient. For more than thirty years he was 
an active member of the Board of Domestic Missions, 
and for seven years its treasurer. 

He had a family of six sons and four daughters, sev- 
eral of whom died in early life. He died March 17, 
1 86 1, in the eightieth year of his age. His widow sur- 
vived him nearly seventeen years and died December 2 1 , 
1877, at the advanced age of ninety-six. Charles, the 
oldest child, was the last survivor of the family. 

Hannah Hamill Nassau was the second daughter of 
Robert Hamill, Esq., a ruling elder in the Presbyterian 
Church of Norristown, Pa. Mr'. Hamill was of Scotch- 
Irish descent, and married Miss Isabella Todd, of Provi- 
dence, Pa. They had a large family of children, six of 



IN MEMORIAM. 



5 



whom reached adult years ; became early pious, were 
all well educated, the three sons being prominent minis- 
ters in the Presbyterian Church, two of the daughters 
wives of clergymen, and one the wife of a ruling elder. 

This ancestry is given to illustrate Jehovah's fidelity 
to his own covenant. 

Charles W. Nassau was, in his infancy, dedicated to 
God in baptism. He was early started in the path of 
knowledge. When but two years of age he was sent to 
an instructress to whom he became much attached. 
From that time he was an ardent student and enjoyed 
uninterruptedly the advantages of a thorough education, 
until his nineteenth year, when broken health, for a while, 
interfered with his studies. But to the latest year of his 
life he continued a diligent and accurate learner, always 
mastering his subject. 

His beautiful, virtuous youth was passed amid the 
varied and happy, social, religious, and educational ad- 
vantages of home, the church, the school, and the Uni- 
versity of his native city. 

Of those to whom he felt himself deeply indebted in 
religious things was that eminent man of God, Rev. 
Joseph Eastburn. He early formed the habit of com- 
mitting to paper the substance of sermons and other dis- 
courses that he heard. His thoughts, which generally 
ran on serious subjects, were often quickened by such 
providences as the death, in 1813, of a very dear brother, 
next younger than himself, and by his own repeated 
and dangerous attacks of quinsy. 

He had frequent seasons of anxiety about his soul, and 
was often affected to tears, retiring to secret places for 
prayer. He had been taught to pray as soon as he could 
speak ; was strict in the observance of the Sabbath ; was 
devoted to his Bible, and kept no company with the 



6 IN MEMORIAM. 

immoral. His one intimate associate was the son of his 
father's friend (James Stewart), a youth of similar tastes, 
sympathies, training, and aims with himself. In his 
twelfth year he began the study of Latin, and graduated 
from the University of Pennsylvania with the first honors 
of his class in 1821, at the age of seventeen. From 18 19, 
and for nearly twenty years thereafter, he kept a diary, 
which he always felt was helpful to him in the matter of 
self-examination. 

His journal is valuable as a disclosure of his religious 
experience, and for his edifying reference to current 
events, as a few extracts will show. 

" March 9, 1819. — The Masonic Hall in this city was 
burned down this evening. Thus that which requires 
so long a time to be built is destroyed in a few hours. 
Thus pass away mortals and all that is the work of mor- 
tal man. The scene reminded me of ' nature in ruins 
and a world on fire.' " 

"April 12, 1 8 19. — This day commences my sixteenth 
year. May the Lord grant that my birthday into right- 
eousness be not far hence. May he take me as his own, 
renew a right spirit within me, and form me aright by 
his regenerating grace." 

June 2, 1819. — Under this date he makes grateful 
mention of a narrow escape from a runaway. 

He entered the Junior class of the University of Penn- 
sylvania in September, 1 8 19. It had been his wish to 
enter Princeton College, but in this desire he was, for ap- 
parently good reasons, overruled by his father, who pre- 
ferred that his studies should be pursued at home. In 
the winter of 1820 his seriousness greatly increased, and 
he always looked back to that as the season when his re- 
ligious impressions bore their fruit, and he was enabled 
to claim the Lord Jesus as his Saviour. One night in 



IN MEMORIAM. 7 

particular he recurs to in his journal, when he made an 
unreserved surrender of himself to God, and felt the peace- 
ful sense of pardoning love. Thereafter he began, when 
called upon by his father or pastor, to lead in social prayer. 
He publicly professed his faith soon after, and united with 
the Third Presbyterian Church in Pine Street, Philadel- 
phia. June 26, 1 82 1, he graduated from the University 
of Pennsylvania, at the head of his class, when only sev- 
enteen years old. In reference to this distinction he 
wrote at the time : " The honors of this world are fading, 
even those in pursuit of which many years are spent, 
when at last they are grasped, prove unsatisfying. 
Learn, O my soul, to seek those honors which the Judge 
of all shall dispense to his faithful servants, such as ' come, 
ye blessed of my father.' " 

The following year he spent in studying Hebrew with 
a class under Dr. Banks, of the Associate Church, Phil- 
adelphia ; and he also gave attention to Moral Science, 
Sacred Geography, and Theology. He began to take 
an active part in visiting the sick, and in religious assem- 
blies, exhorting and speaking from a text. These efforts, 
though tremblingly made, were very acceptable. The 
Lord was better than his fears, and while he endeavored 
to stir up others, he also was revived. 

The summer of 1822 he passed at his father's country 
seat. In reference to an attack of fever in September of 
that year he wrote : "I needed the rod and the Lord in 
mercy gave it to me ; whenever I go astray he kindly 
lays his hand on me. I cannot wander far from him with- 
out feeling lonely or afraid. " He entered the Theological 
Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, in November, 1822. 
During his seminary course his health was far from 
robust. His close application to study for years began 
to tell on his bodily strength. He felt that the steady 



s 



IN MEMORIAM. 



march of time was bearing him nearer to death and 
eternal realities, and began to study more closely the 
art of living well. He continually sat in judgment on 
his motives for entering the ministry. The impulses 
of a missionary spirit found in him frequent expression, 
and he took an active part in a Missionary Society in the 
Institution. In the summer of 1823, he was regretfully 
constrained by ill-health to close his theological course 
at Princeton ; but his studies were pursued in private 
with diligence and system. He gave considerable time 
and attention to the composition and delivery of ser- 
mons, under the guidance of his pastor. He began to 
speak, and spoke on an average once a week, in various 
places in and around Philadelphia, and his health grad- 
ually improved. After much anxiety and consultation 
with friends, he was licensed to preach April 23, 1824 
(before his majority), by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. 
It was to him an occasion of the deepest solemnity. 
After licensure he was not idle. For several months he 
preached in various pulpits in Philadelphia and vicinity 
on an average twice or thrice a week. 

His plan of labor was similar to that of a missionary, 
though he took no missionary appointment. 

He preached where duty seemed to call at his own 
discretion and expense. He was always well received. 
His health improved, and his views enlarged as he be- 
came more conversant with men and affairs. Thoueh 
he frequently preached when, to use his own words, he 
was ashamed to hear the sound of his own voice, yet the 
experience he gained was of importance. He met and 
learned to adapt himself to the capacities and manners 
of persons of different ages and conditions. 

It was a year, to him, of comparative health and ex- 
tending usefulness. Toward the close of the year he 



IN MEMORIAM. 



9 



became more identified with and interested in the church 
at Norristown, Pa. The Lord also led him to the choice 
of his future companion. 

The following spring, April 23, 1825, found him lo- 
cated as the stated supply to the Presbyterian Church 
at Norristown, and to the united churches of Norriton 
and Providence. Here he gave himself to his ministerial 
work with all the devotion of his nature. He lived for 
his people, was very faithful in all the details of pastoral 
work, and was wholly engaged in the Master's business. 
All his plans, studies, visitation and accounts were charac- 
teristically methodical. At the end of six months he 
was formally called to the pastorate of these churches, 
was ordained and installed by the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia, November 16, 1825. 

He felt himself insufficient for the work, and the occa- 
sion was solemn and affecting. Yet, while he trembled 
at the greatness of his duties and responsibilities, he felt 
sustained to go forward, whatever the difficulties and 
burdens. 

Mr. Nassau was married April 11, 1826, by Rev. Dr. 
Ely, to Miss Hannah Hamill, in whom he obtained 
favor from the Lord. This union was blessed of Heaven, 
and through many changes remained unbroken for more 
than fifty-two years. Their ten children (six daughters 
and four sons) all survive, to testify, as with one voice, to 
the preciousness of parents, now passed into the skies. 

A year of happy ministerial and domestic life followed ; 
but in May, 1827, Mr. Nassau's health was so much im- 
paired by overwork during a revival, that he was com- 
pelled to suspend his pastoral work for several months, 
and travel at his leisure, and for the most part on horse- 
back, through portions of the States of New York and 
Virginia. By this relaxation he was much benefited, and 



IO IN MEMORIAM. 

enabled to resume his pastoral duties in November, 1827. 
He modified, somewhat, his old habits of study and prep- 
aration of sermons, in the interest of his health. He 
rode on horseback as much as possible, and thoroughly 
canvassed his whole parish, to supply every family with 
a Bible. 

In the spring of 1828 he was again compelled, by the 
return of his bronchial ailment, to desist altogether from 
public speaking. He requested of the Presbytery leave 
to resign his charge. They thought best that he should 
retain it for six months longer, and, in the meantime, 
appointed supplies for his pulpit. In June of that year 
he commenced travelling in pursuit of health. Having 
been appointed by General Assembly a delegate to the 
General Associations of Connecticut and Massachusetts, 
he determined to journey, chiefly on horseback, into New 
England. He found the trip beneficial, and was much 
revived by new scenes and acquaintances. But he was 
not able to resume stated preaching, and in October was 
released by Presbytery from his charge. This step 
seemed to be duty, though taken with reluctance^ and 
with the purpose to enter again upon pastoral service, 
should God remove the hindrance. In November he 
removed his family to his father's country-seat, Frank- 
ford, Pa., where he remained less than a year, preaching 
occasionally, as health allowed, in Frankford, Philadel- 
phia, Norristown, and contiguous places. 

In July, 1829, he removed to a farm purchased by his 
father at Montgomery Square, Pa.— a pleasant, healthy 
location, twenty miles from Philadelphia and ten from 
Norristown. There the family resided until May, 1836. 

These seven years were important by their influence 
in the gradual establishment of Mr. Nassau's health, and 
in the extension of his usefulness. He was, for the most 



IN MEMORIAM. 



part, engaged in educational work, keeping a boarding- 
school for boys, and preaching, as health permitted, in 
neighboring localities, and as occasional supply to the 
people of his former charge at Norristown and Provi- 
dence. 

These churches again sought him as their pastor ; but, 
under medical advice, he reluctantly declined this recall 
to a people to whom he was endeared, believing that the 
condition of his throat would not permit a pastorate. 
In the spring of 1836 he removed, with his growing 
family, to what was then considered the Far West, with 
the view of teaching Hebrew in a Theological Depart- 
ment proposed in connection with Marion College, 
Missouri. 

The plan for a Theological department failing, he ac- 
cepted the professorship of Latin and Greek in the col- 
lege. This position he filled with ability and acceptance 
until June 24, 1838. The college had by that time be- 
come inextricably involved in pecuniary difficulties, so 
that Professor Nassau resigned his situation, and in re- 
sponse to the wish of his parents and friends returned 
again to the farm at Montgomery Square. There three 
quiet, profitable years were passed — from July, 1838, to 
April, 1841, in supervising the education of his children, 
in occasional preaching, and in the building up of his 
own health by outdoor industry. 

In the spring of 1841 he was called to the professor- 
ship of Latin and Greek in Lafayette College, Easton, 
Pa. He removed thither in April of that year. This 
position he adorned during the presidency of Dr. J. W. 
Yeomans and of Dr. George Junkin until March, 1849 ; 
and during all those years he labored energetically and 
successfully with his colleagues for the upbuilding of the 
institution. He was frequently called upon to preach in 



12 IN MEMORIAM. 

the vicinity, and for several years acted as stated supply 
of the Presbyterian Church at Durham, Pa. Upon the 
retirement of Dr. Junkin the affairs of the college were 
in a critical condition. Professor Nassau was, in March, 
1849, chosen President of the college, and two classes 
were graduated under his presidency. These were cru- 
cial years in the history of that beloved institution. But 
the energy and wisdom of its true-hearted friends, under 
the leadership of President Nassau, kept it alive and 
handed it down to able successors. The honorary de- 
gree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon Presi- 
dent Nassau by Jefferson College, August 6, 1850. 

In the fall of that year a new opening of usefulness 
was presented to Dr. Nassau, which, upon the advice of 
numerous friends and the recommendation of prominent 
clergymen, he decided to accept. He therefore resigned 
the Presidency of Lafayette College, taking a tender 
farewell of the institution on commencement day, Sep- 
tember 18, 1850. 

Dr. Nassau's residence and work at Easton were quite 
to his taste. Many warm and lasting friendships were 
there formed. Memories of beautiful Easton were ever 
pleasant to review, and his attachment to Lafayette con- 
tinued to the close of life. 

His reputation as a linguist and as an executive officer 
In the college, as well as his influence as a Christian 
minister and a presbyter, were distinctly recognized. 
On severing his relations with the presbytery of New- 
ton the following minute was adopted under date October 
1, 1850: "The Rev. Chas. W. Nassau, D.D., having 
made application for dismission to unite with the Pres- 
bytery of New Brunswick, in the bounds of which he 
believes he is called by the Providence of God to labor 
in the education of female youth, in leaving the Presi- 



IN MEMORIAM. 13 

dency of Lafayette College for the purpose of occupying 
a different educational sphere, his co-presbyters would 
take this opportunity of expressing their high apprecia- 
tion of his talents, acquirements, industry and piety. 
As a professor of Ancient Languages in Lafayette Col- 
lege, he sustained a reputation of no ordinary character 
for eight years, which was in no measure impaired by 
the mild, but firm and successful manner in which he 
conducted the affairs of that institution for the last two 
years as President. As a man and as a presbyter he has 
endeared himself to us by a demeanor at all times digni- 
fied, calm and courteous. These traits of character and 
conduct, combined with his talents and acquirements, 
do, in the estimation of this Presbytery, peculiarly 
qualify him for the situation which he is in future to oc- 
cupy, and in which we would most fully and affection- 
ately commend him to the patronage of parents and the 
public." 

Having purchased the property of the Female Semi- 
nary in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, Dr. Nassau took 
charge of the institution in October, 1850. He was 
greatly encouraged by the numerous testimonials freely 
tendered by clergymen of influence and prominence. 
The wisdom of the change began soon to appear. The 
institution prospered under his capable administration 
for over twenty years. He gave himself to the impor- 
tant trust with unremitting zeal and loving devotion. 

The several classes of young ladies that passed from 
under his judicious care and tuition were unanimous and 
pronounced in their commendation of Dr. and Mrs. 
Nassau. 

These years, as they sped rapidly on, witnessed many 
changes in the home life of the family. One after an- 
other passed from under the parental roof to other rela- 



14 IN MEMORIAM. 

tions, and often to distant scenes. A very delightful 
and memorable family reunion occurred February 19, 
1872, at which the missionary brother and sister were 
welcomed, and sons and daughters, as well as children's 
children, presented their filial greetings. 

Lawrenceville Seminary thus proved a happy home 
for all who passed in and out during these years of suc- 
cessful work and multiplying comforts. By and by the 
burden of the institution became too great for those 
who had carried it so long and so well. Dr. Nassau 
was very ill in the summer of 1873, and Mrs. Nassau 
felt the need of relief from care, so that a retirement 
from the institution came to be contemplated as neces- 
sary. Dr. Nassau removed to Trenton, N. J., in July, 
1 875, where his remaining days were passed. In leav- 
ing Lawrenceville, where so many attachments had 
been formed, he received many cordial and gratifying 
expressions from individuals, and from the Presbyterian 
Church, with which he had been closely and usefully 
identified. 

In Trenton he came into most pleasant relations with 
ministerial brethren. 

Residing near the Fourth Presbyterian Church, he gave 
himself to the work of that organization with great zest, 
to the oft-expressed satisfaction of the pastor. His 
Sabbaths were fully occupied with helpful duties, some- 
where in the city or in contiguous churches. 

April 11, 1876, occurred the fiftieth anniversary of the 
marriage of Dr. and Mrs. Nassau, and the manner in 
which this occasion was recognized by their children and 
friends gave them an unexpected pleasure. 

The following letter, sent at the time, shows with 
what feelings this occasion was regarded by their chil- 
dren : 



IN MEMORIAM. 



15 



Warsaw, N. Y., April 11, 1876. 

Dearest Parents : — An event occurred fifty years ago, in 
which not only you, but also your large and widely-scattered 
family must feel the liveliest interest. 

You, doubtless, recall it as though it were but yesterday. 

We were not eye-witnesses, and so cannot depend for in- 
formation on memory, nor rely upon the testimony of our 
senses ; yet we have no doubt as to the now historic occur- 
rence, and are quite satisfied as to the authenticity of the 
following extract from the matrimonial annals of those days, 
viz. : " Chas. Wm. Nassau and Hannah Hamili were married 
on the nth of April, a.d. 1826, by Rev. E. S. Ely, D.D." 
The clergyman who is said to have tied the knot has passed 
away, but his work remains. We cannot, therefore, expect his 
deposition to verify this report of his labors ; but there are 
certain established facts which answer just as well. Various 
effects, or, as Darwin might say, "developments," have since 
transpired as the results of that transaction, so intimately con- 
nected with it, so palpable and important, that, arguing from 
effect to cause, we infer the substantial accuracy of this old- 
time record : and there could be no better evidence on the 
subject than just such facts and figures as we have at hand. 
Were we all present, there would be ten good reasons for this 
our faith. 

The children whom, during these years, God has given 
you, and whom so tenderly and faithfully you have reared to 
manhood and womanhood, have from time to time gone out 
from the domestic nest, and from under your protecting wings 
and fostering care. Now, on this interesting anniversary, like 
young eagles that have been a long while trying their pinions, 
though not forgetting the Eyrie, they would seek again the 
familiar fellowship of tenderer years — nestle close against a 
mother's warm heart and rest under the overshadowing covert 
of a father's love. Some of them may enjoy this privilege ; 
but, present or absent, they all think of you with the fondest 



i6 



IN MEMORIAM. 



filial affection and reverence, and with one accord would rise 
up and call you blessed. As their spokesman or amanuensis, 
I am charged to greet you with their heartiest salutations. We 
congratulate you, as well as felicitate ourselves, on living to see 
this day. We have a very decided impression that the match 
arranged and ratified fifty years ago in elder HamiU's house 
was really made and blessed in Heaven. It is our conviction, 
too, that you each made a very wise and happy choice of part- 
ners — in fact, the very best selection — a choice that could not 
have been improved had you waited until this time, or even till 
the Latter-day glory. 

Moreover, it is our unanimous opinion that the bride was 
'■''Just lovely /" and the groom " Just splendid /" — as good and 
noble a pair as ever clasped hands. 

We have seen many weddings in our day, but never one like 
that. The fact is we are a little proud of our ancestry, and 
plume ourselves upon coming of a holy and honorable lineage ; 
and that the very best blood of Germany, Scotland, Ireland and 
America flows in our veins. So we thank God for giving us 
such parents ; so kind and capable, so wise, impartial, and ex- 
emplary. We thank Him too, for sparing you to us through 
our youthful and inexperienced years, and for permitting you 
still to live in a home so pleasant, to be the dear bond of the, 
as yet, unbroken household. 

The Divine hand has brought you through a great variety of 
domestic vicissitudes, replete with interesting incidents and 
precious experience, rich in important results and invaluable 
culture to us all. 

Pilgrims and sojourners you certainly have been. Part of 
the way we have kept you company. We often recall these 
changes. We think of you as you removed from the early 
home at Norristown, to the farm and school at Montgomery 
Square, and thence to the novel frontier life in Missouri, and 
on to the ever memorable years on College Hill, Easton, and 
the pleasant seminary career in Lawrenceville, down to the 
present hour, and your agreeable residence in Trenton. In 



IN MEMORIAM. 



each and all of these way-stations, upheld and honored by your 
father's God, blessed and a blessing, in every change continu- 
ing the centre of a happy home, and of ever-widening circles 
of influence. 

We account it the greatest honor that our names are linked 
with yours — a perennial joy to have been trained amidst such 
associations and by such educators, proficient in the gracious 
art of rearing a family in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord. " The glory of children are their fathers." <£ Wisdom is 
justified of her children." Your prudence and tact in domestic 
management in caring for your numerous flock, and keeping 
the house afloat, often on slender means, have excited our ad- 
miration and gratitude, and taught us salutary, practical lessons. 
It has been a puzzle how you could treat us all so that each 
child might imagine himself or herself the favorite. And those 
of us upon whom parental responsibilities likewise rest, find 
ourselves instinctively imitating, as well as we can, the rare 
model you have given us. How gladly we testify to your 
fidelity and success and thank you for the priceless tuition of 
other days. If after such a start in life we fail, the fault will 
not be yours. We delight to review, as time after time we have 
done, and told to the generation following, the story of those 
years under the parental roof — years stored with memories of 
childhood and youth, seasons of deep abiding interest, times of 
gladness and of trial, partings and reunions. With Harlan 
Page, recalling his early home, some of us may say : 

** Here a child, I sinned and strayed, 
Here my Saviour disobeyed ; 
Here I felt the chastening rod, 
Here, I trust, returned to God." 

What a wonderful half-century this has been upon which 
your wedded life has fallen ! Scarcely a more eventful period 
of the same length could be selected in modern times. Half 
the history of our beloved country has been crowded into the 
past fifty years. How thrilling some of its passages ! How 



i8 



IN MEMORIAM. 



much has happened in that time, of importance to church and 
state, to human history and the world ! What brilliant discov- 
eries and startling revolutions have been made in that time ! 
What an impetus has been given, particularly in our own land, 
to science and art, to commerce and travel, to liberty and 
union, to education and all the departments of Christian enter- 
prise ! And in many of these avenues of progress you have 
walked, and either led the way or lent a helping-hand. 

The Lord has brought you sometimes by a way you did not 
know. Yet in the retrospect, if not at the time, it has proved 
to be a good path, pleasantly diversified, and full of such expe- 
riences as awaken gratitude. In the review the darker shadings 
retreat and fade away, while light and mercy predominate. At 
least He knew the way you took, every step of it, so that you 
could not err therein. And it has been as the shining light, 
shining more and more unto cloudless, perfect day. 

We esteem it a mercy that you have both been spared to 
help us on our way. While you have seen one after another 
of your children venture out, at the call of Providence, upon 
the mission of life, they have not been called to taste an 
orphan's sorrow. For this great favor we are grateful, and our 
prayer is that there may be added to you yet, many years — 
happy, useful, fruitful years — years crowned by a green old age, 
rich in blessing, and a hope full of immortality. 

Please accept these Ten Eagles that on this golden anniver- 
sary come to represent your sons and daughters with the tender- 
est love, honor, and prayers of the sisters six, and the brothers 
four, all still living to call you father and mother ; and although 
widely separated and differently occupied, united in the com- 
mon sentiments and sympathies of filial piety. 

In behalf of all your children, 

Affectionately, your first-born, 

Joseph Eastburn Nassau. 



To the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. C. W. Nassau, 

Trenton, N. J. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



19 



Two years of great serenity and peace followed. One 
daughter and a grandchild, son of the missionary in 
Africa, who found a home here, remained to cheer with 
their presence and loving hands the declining but not 
enfeebled age of these beloved parents. The absent 
ones ever found the open door and warm, sympathizing 
hearts as they came and went away. No place on earth 
seemed dearer to .all. It was the common centre to 
which the hearts and steps of all turned. Here peace 
and love and godliness dwelt. Health, freedom from 
burdensome cares, the happy surroundings of earthly 
friendships, and opportunities for quiet usefulness, and 
above all, the abiding peace of God, made this home a 
bright anticipation of the pure and blessed home above. 
But shadows must fall upon the brightest homes of 
earth, and no doors close so softly and so well but that 
death can open them. And so in the morning darkness 
of June 21, 1878, with noiseless footfall, unexpectedly, 
but not to one unprepared, the messenger came. "On 
this day," the record runs, *' my dear wife died suddenly 
at 3:15 A.M., and June 25, 1878, her precious remains 
were interred in Lawrenceville Cemetery." The event 
thus referred to came without alarming premonition. 
Mrs. Nassau died before a physician could be summoned. 
The shock to her husband was severe, yet through all the 
affliction he appeared calm and sustained. 

In his bereavement children and the kindest of friends 
rallied around him with their sympathy and aid. His 
prayer, as the family took leave of their dead, was most 
impressive. 

The funeral services, as conducted in presence of a 
large congregation by Rev. Drs. Hall and Richardson, 
were eminently appropriate. The following selection 
was happily introduced by Dr. Richardson : 



20 



IN MEMORIAM. 



FULLY RIPE. 



"Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of 
cometh in its season." — Job v. 26. 



Long standing in the Master's field, 

Fed daily by His sun and dew, 
Eager its best return to yield, 

To perfect symmetry it grew. 
The storm swept over it in vain, 

Nor frost could blight its noonday heat 
Till a fair shock of golden grain 
It stood in perfectness complete, 
Fully ripe. 

Men saw and gave to God the praise, 

Who smiled well pleased and passed it by, 
Till in these later autumn days 

Its garner was prepared on high. 
Then came the reaper down at morn, 

Softly as feathery snowflakes come, 
To gather in the golden corn 

And bear the precious harvest home, 
Fully ripe. 

Ah ! but the field is brown and bare, 

And Heaven's great gain we grieve to lose, 
For in our eyes 't was wondrous fair, 

While fitting for the Master's use. 
And for the place left desolate 

We needs must weep, yet thanks be given 
The treasure that we found so great 

Was for a better place in Heaven 
Fully ripe. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



21 



The following obituary appeared in the Presbyterian : 

IN MEMORIAM. 

Hannah Hamill Nassau. — Died at Trenton, N. J., on the 
morning of June 21st, Mrs. Hannah Hamill, wife of Rev. Chas. 
W. Nassau, D.D., in the seventy-second year of her age. The 
death of this beloved wife and mother came as a thief in the 
night. This is the first breach in her large family. Her hus- 
band and ten children survive ^two of them missionaries in 
Africa) to embalm her precious memory. Mrs. Nassau was a 
woman of rare gifts of mind and heart, and of remarkable 
energy in the discharge of her important trusts. Her life as a 
follower of Christ was as a shining light. The hundreds of 
young ladies, now scattered in various parts of the land, to 
whom for so many years she was a mother, in the Female 
Seminary at Lawrenceville, N. J., will, as do her own children, 
rise up and call her blessed. 

In this connection the following lines will be read with 
interest : 

A PICTURE FOR MEMORY. 

BY S. W. A. N. 

" Only forgetting myself ! ; ' 
Resting in easy chair, 
Sweet face, 'mid soft, white hair, 

Breath calm and deep ; 
Children around the while 
Whisper, with loving smile, 
" Mother's asleep." 
Roused from her gentle reposing, 
" Not sleeping, dear, only dozing : 
Only forgetting myself." 



22 



IN MEMORIAM. 



Only forgetting thyself ! 

Picture, so beautiful, 

Of all the dutiful 
Scheme of thy life ; 

Constant in thoughtful love, 

Sacred and Christlike, of 
Mother and wife : 
Always unselfishly giving 
Others the gain of thy living — 

Only forgetting thyself. 

Only forgetting herself ! 

Hands crossed so restfully, 

Eyes closed so trustfully, 
Wearied feet still ; 

Bloom-tint on brow and cheek, 

Lips the warm love yet speak, 
Death cannot chill ; 
Jesus her memory keeping, 
In His strong arms she is sleeping — 

Only forgetting herself. 

Through his great trial, Dr. Nassau bore himself as a 
veteran believer with composure and fortitude ; but, in 
the course of a few weeks, the result that his friends had 
from the first apprehended began to appear in the gen- 
eral prostration of his physical constitution. 

And this slow but painless decline continued with 
varying phases until the end came at noon of August 6, 
1878. 

He was confined to his bed about a month, and re- 
ceived, in his dying chamber, which seemed " quite on 
the verge of Heaven," the visits of his children, friends, 
and clerical brethren. 

He was entirely resigned to await the will of the Lord. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



23 



He repeatedly took part in family worship, leading in 
prayer or starting a familiar hymn. His conversation 
was cheerful, Scriptural, and full of an unclouded hope. 
All his worldly affairs were satisfactorily arranged to the 
last detail. In anticipation of his decease, his simple 
request was, that the funeral arrangements might conform 
as nearly as possible to those observed for Mrs. Nassau. 
He was spared acute suffering, and consciousness con- 
tinued until, without a struggle and with scarce a sign of 
dissolution, he fell asleep — 

"An honored life — a peaceful end, 
And Heaven to crown it all." 

The funeral was largely attended from the Fourth 
Presbyterian Church. Devout men bore him to his 
burial in the quiet cemetery at Lawrenceville, and laid 
him beside the wife of his youth. Beautiful and fragrant 
is the memory of these heirs of God. A trail of light 
seems to come from their new-made graves on yonder 
hillside. Lovely and pleasant were they in their lives — 
in death scarcely divided, and soon united in glory. 
They walk in the light of God, and their peace no man 
taketh from them. They have not lived in vain. Words 
cannot tell how great a blessing they were to all whose 
lives theirs touched. Men saw them walking day by 
day with God, stepping steadily heavenward and leading 
others in the path of life. 

We admired, as we looked upon those models of Chris- 
tian character, or watched their consistent living, and 
felt the impulse of their bright example, radiant with 
faith, hope, and charity. We took knowledge that they 
had been with Jesus, and saw their countenances as it 
had been the faces of angels. Their very presence was 
a benediction. Farewell, faithful guide of our youth ! 



24 



IN MEMORIAM. 



How truly you fulfilled your trust there are many wit- 
nesses. Here we part for a little while. You have en- 
tered the rest of Immortality. We follow on, while the 
shadow of death lies between. We yearn for you, not 
sorrowfully, but hopefully ; not as for the dead or lost, 
but for the living and the blessed. Dwelling in light, 
you are ours still. Though among saints made perfect, 
you are none the less our kindred, and faith inspires the 
hope of a reunion. We are coming and shall meet again 
and see eye to eye. Them that sleep in Jesus will God 
bring with him. And so we leave you to slumber, side 
by side in the narrow house, only whispering good-night, 
beloved of God ! Sleep on now and take your rest till 
o'er the hills of earth the day break and the shadows 
flee away forever. 

From Dr. Nassau's literary, poetical, and theological 
papers several volumes might be formed. He was a 
close thinker and a hard worker all his days. He was 
well versed in mathematics, natural, mental, and moral 
science, an accomplished scholar in the Latin, Greek, and 
Hebrew languages ; and in the Sacred Scriptures he dug 
as for hid treasures. Of the many tributes to his mem- 
ory we make the following selections. 

By permission of Rev. R. H. Richardson, D.D., we 
append the admirable address he delivered at the funeral 
of Dr. Nassau : 

" It was our heart's desire and our prayer to God that 
Dr. Nassau's life might be prolonged, and that we might 
see him again in the places which he loved so well and 
where we loved so well to see him. It seemed to us 
that we could not spare him, and that Heaven could well 
afford to wait awhile for one who was so much needed 
on earth. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



" But now that the Wisdom which never errs has de- 
cided otherwise, is it not becoming, is it not Christian, 
that, instead of bemoaning our disappointments and re- 
counting the sorrows of our loss, we should rather seek 
reasons for resignation and even for rejoicing ? 

" Of course it is true that the removal from earth to 
heaven of any child of God is never an occasion of any 
such grief as savors of selfishness or of discontentment 
with the appointments of the Sovereign Will. Our times 
are in God's hand, and no man dies until he has accom- 
plished the allotted number of his days on earth. Im- 
mortal till our work is done, God knows when that 
work is done and then mortality must assert itself- — 
rather, then this mortal must put on true immortality. 
Why then should not our grief be hushed in the thought 
of that Supreme and Universal Authority which appoints 
man's bounds that he cannot pass, and then changes his 
countenance and sends him away. 

' ' This does not mean that we must be dumb with 
sullen submission to what we cannot help ; and it does 
not mean that we must be insensible to losses which 
leave our hearts and homes desolate. It does not mean 
that no sorrowful remembrances are to be indulged, nor 
tears of grief to be shed. Human grief and tears have 
the highest of all sanctions, for Jesus wept. Let Nature 
have her way. 

" And yet there is a Power, higher than Nature, which 
can subdue our sorrows ; can transform them into re- 
joicings ; can give us beauty for riches, the oil of joy for 
mourning, and the garments of praise for the spirit of 
heaviness. Simple faith in the Divine Sovereignty, if it 
had its full exercise in us, might do this. But, blessed 
be God, he has given us something more than this — 
something which, if not better than this, is better suited 



26 



IN MEMORIAM. 



to us in our present limited apprehensions of the Divine 
Government, and in the present oft infirmities of our 
faith. 

" Take this one saying of Holy Writ from the many 
which come to us at such a time as this : * None of us 
liveth unto himself, and no man dieth unto himself; for 
whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we 
die, we die unto the Lord : whether we live, therefore, 
or die, we are the Lord's.' That is the whole story of 
a Christian life, from its beginning onward through ail 
the ages and stages of its progress ; and there is the 
truth which throws a heavenly radiance along the entire 
pathway of that progress, not in any wise obscured by 
the shadow of death, nor by the darkness of the grave, 
but rather then and there shining the more brightly. 

" Living or dying, the Lord's ! His no less amid the 
dissolution of death and the decay of the grave than 
amid the years of active life and service; and eminently 
his beyond all death and all decay, in the glory given to 
him and by him given to all his people. 

" What one said of himself, so may all of them say, 
though it may be with too little of his assurance, and 
with too little reason for it : ' For me to live is Christ ! ' 
Christ, the Author of life, the Giver of life, the Life 
itself which lives in this frail mortality of ours, the Ani- 
mating Principle of a life which is possible, and only 
possible, to us through our union with him. Neces- 
sarily, therefore, Christ the Central and Supreme Object 
of love, subduing all things in us and of us to himself, 
and so becoming the grand End of all our purpose and 
effort; the love of Christ constraining us and making us 
thus to judge that if One died for all, then all died — that 
they which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
selves, but unto him who died for them and rose again. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



2/ 



Then, when death comes, it is not merely gain to die, but 
still Christ to die. It is that Christ-life in the soul, even 
more powerfully asserting itself as it conquers death and 
him that has the power of death, coming to its full 
strength amid the weakness and failure of the physical 
man, and converting the dark and dreadful King of Ter- 
rors into an Angel of Light, whose coming the soul leaps 
up with joy to welcome. 

M Then, still, Christ to live again, as never before, in 
the presence of Christ, where we shall see him as he is, 
and be made like unto him. Forever with the Lord, 
and rising higher and forever higher in knowledge, ap- 
preciation, assimilation. That is life eternal, and Christ 
is still the Author and the End of it ; and it is eternal 
only because it has his own eternity in it. 

" What is there, then, in such a life, at any stage of it, 
that does not furnish occasion for our rejoicing ? And 
although it passes out of the sphere of our present ob- 
servation and fellowship, is not that especially a time for 
congratulations, and not for tears and lamentations ? 

" Such was the life and such the death which have 
brought us here to-day. It would be an offence against 
the proprieties of the place and time to indulge in pro- 
fuse praises of the dead, parading his virtues before you 
for your admiration and applause. His lips, now silent, 
would protest, if they could speak, against all eulogy. 
It would be no less contrary to the wishes and the taste 
of those who knew him best and loved him most. By 
the grace of God he was what he was, and if that grace 
was bestowed on him more abundantly than falls to the 
lot of most men, there is the more reason that the grace, 
and not the man, should have the praise. 

" But he needs no eulogies to raise our love and ven- 
eration higher. His life was the witness to his worth, 



28 



IN MEMORIAM. 



and the memory of that precious, holy life is fresh in the 
hearts of all of us. There might be little danger that 
any encomiums on his character and life would exceed 
the bounds of sober truth, as they are so apt to do on 
such occasions as this. But let me only repeat what we 
are all saying to ourselves, and have often said to one 
another. He was a man of sincere piety, in all that word 
implies. Whatever doubts might be suggested in re- 
gard to others, here was one man, at least, to whom all 
bore testimony that he was a Christian, not according to 
any modern or moderate standard of Christianity, but 
to the more exacting requirement of the word and ex- 
ample of him whose name it bears. Religion was the 
chief concern with him. His heart was full of it, his 
lips were full of it, his life was full of it. 

"He could not, therefore, have been other than he 
was — a man of great humility, for that is the crowning 
grace of Christian character. To be least in our own 
esteem is to be highest in the regard of God, and to 
this man God did look because he was of an humble and 
contrite heart. His profound reverence for the Divine 
Being, word and works, were a sufficient safeguard 
against all self-exaltation, as it ought to be with all of us. 
It need hardly be said now that he was a man of great 
faith or trust in the wisdom and goodness of all God's 
dealings with him. He patiently submitted to disap- 
pointments, and with what a meek and quiet spirit he 
met the ordinary adversities of life you have often 
seen. You saw it more conspicuously a little while ago, 
in his first experience of that sorrow which, in some of 
its aspects, is hardest of all earthly trials. Because it 
was the first, it was the more severe ; for after one inva- 
sion of our homes by death there is no repetition of it 
which can smite us so dumb again with astonishment 



IN MEMORIAM. 



29 



and grief. How resignedly, how cheerfully even, he 
met that great affliction which sundered the loving fel- 
lowship of more than fifty years with her who was, and 
was worthy to be, the desire of his heart and his eyes. 
It was a heavier strain upon him than he himself knew, 
but how nobly he bore it and with what hopefulness and 
courage he resumed the places of his love and labor ! 
We marvelled at his fortitude, and perhaps he marvelled 
too. If he did, he found the explanation of it where we 
must find it, in the grace sufficient for any emergency, 
and given proportionally to the need of it. It should be 
especially noticed that his was a very cheerful piety. 
There was no gloom nor excessive gravity about it ; 
none of the spirit of bondage. He rejoiced in the Lord 
always, and diffused the lights of that joy around him. 
It shone in the genial smile on his face, and spoke in his 
kind and genial words, and made itself felt in the warm 
grasp of the hand. To whatsoever things were honest, 
just and true he added that which was lovely and of good 
report, and so adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour. 
Little children were drawn to him and were happy with 
him. Old man as he was, and eminently good man as 
they knew him to be, they felt that he was neither too 
old nor too good to be a companion for them. 

" You will readily recall among his Christian virtues 
his great love for the Lord's house. It was genuine 
love, not mere decent custom, nor the cold constraint of 
duty, that compelled his constant attendance on all the 
worship of the sanctuary. It was because his heart was 
always here that his place was never vacant, except from 
necessity. He was glad when they said unto him, ' Let 
us go into the house of the Lord,' and he was glad to say 
it to others. For his brethren and companions' sake, 
and for his heavenly Father's sake, and for the sake of 



30 IN MEMORIAM. 

the beloved Master of Assemblies, and for his own sake 
— for all the worshipful associations and fellowships of 
Zion — it was the place for which he longed, and where 
the time he spent always passed quickly. 

" Better, in some respects, than all that has been said 
of him : his was an active Christian life, and this, too, 
not from any compulsion of circumstances, nor even of 
religious obligation. He loved to serve his Master and 
his fellow-servants in any and every way. You will 
search a long time before you will find another man 
whose delight in Christian work is equal to his. It was 
his meat and his drink, and he found actual refreshment 
in it. It was a favor conferred on him when any service 
was requested of him, and, above all, when he was asked 
to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. He could 
say, in the language of Miss Waring's beautiful hymn — 

In service which Thy will appoints 

There are no bonds for me ; 
My inmost heart is taught the truth 

That makes Thy children free ; 
A life of self-renouncing love 

Is one of liberty. 

" There are no words to express the loss this congre- 
gation and its pastor have sustained by his removal. As 
a co-laborer with us in all church work, and as one so 
wise and so acceptable in all the forms of his service, he 
has left a place which no one else can fill ; and yet that 
place is not wholly vacant, will not be so long as we re- 
member his presence in it, and the gracious words he 
spoke from it, and the holy life he lived in it. 

" Of what he was in the privacy of the home circle, 
nothing has been said, and nothing should be said which 
might seem an intrusion on the sacred sorrows of that 



IN MEMORIAM. 31 

household. But surely it was God's great mercy to them 
that, for almost three and fifty years since that union was 
formed which made of twain one flesh, not until so re- 
cently was one taken of the twelve, to which number 
that household had grown. Where will you find another 
family of whom a like record could be made ? 

" And now that the end has come, shall we not say, 
It is well — well that a finished life should cease — no, not 
cease, but only assume higher and nobler form amid 
higher and nobler scenes, and in higher and nobler ser- 
vice ? And is it not well that the joint life which had 
flowed as one current for more than half a century, and 
which seemed, a little while ago, to be parted into two 
streams, one on that side and one on this, should be 
commingled and made one again, and then flow on for- 
ever ? They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and 
in their death they were not long divided. 

" Servant of Christ, well done ! 
Rest from thy loved employ. 
The battle fought, the victory won. 
Enter thy Master's joy. 

" Soldier of Christ, well done ! 
Praise to thy new employ ; 
And while eternal ages run, 
Rest in thy Saviour's joy." 



32 



IN MEMORIAM. 



The Presbytery of New Brunswick adopted the follow- 
ing minute on the death of Dr. Nassau : 

Whereas, it has pleased the Head of the Church to re- 
move from our number, by death, the Rev. Charles W. Nassau, 
D.D., this Presbytery desires to place upon these minutes, which 
will record his name no more, our high appreciation of his 
long, faithful, and useful labors for the cause of Christ in our 
church. Entering the pastoral office at Norristown, Pa., at the 
early age of twenty-one, he was permitted by his health to re- 
main in it only about four years. And yet, during that brief 
period he had shown such aptness to teach and such qualifica- 
tions for pastoral usefulness as gave great promise of success. 
But the Master had other fields in which he should labor, and 
at the age of thirty-one he was appointed Professor of Hebrew 
and Greek in the Theological Department of Marion College, 
Mo. Five years after he was transferred to Lafayette College, 
where, first as Professor of Ancient Languages and afterwards 
as President, he labored for ten years, and then he became 
Principal of the Young Lady's Seminary at Lawrenceville. In 
this position, not conspicuous but very important, he filled up 
a quarter of a century of most useful service, training many 
who, at home and in foreign lands, in the service of the church 
and in the toils of the household, have adorned their positions 
and blessed others, because of the assiduous training received 
from Dr. Nassau. For twenty-eight years he has been a mem- 
ber of this Presbytery. His counsels of charity, his words of gen- 
tleness, his quiet and genial manners, his willing performance 
of duties assigned, endeared him to his brethren. These we 
shall miss. But we thank the Head of the Church who, through 
Divine grace, developed and ripened the sweet virtues of his 
character, that He spared him through bodily weakness to do 
service till the age of seventy-four, when, after only a few weeks' 
sickness, he fell asleep in Jesus. And so we part from these two 
revered names almost at the head of our roll — Dr. Chas. Hodge 
and Dr. Chas. W. Nassau — praying that we who remain may be 
diligent as they, and at last rejoin them in our Father's House. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



33 



Of several notices in the Presbyterian, the following is 
selected : 

THE LATE DR. NASSAU. 

The death of Rev, Dr. Nassau calls for more than a passing 
notice. His decease, so soon after the death of his devoted 
wife, who was stricken down while sitting beside him, was a 
shock from which he never fully recovered. Although at the 
time he seemed remarkably sustained, yet when the excitement 
of the sad occasion had passed he gradually wasted away until 
he peacefully slept in Jesus. Having been spared, in the kind 
providence of God, to enjoy each other's society for a period 
of three and fifty years, and to see their ten children, all of 
whom survive them, filling important places of usefulness, they 
were ready to go and dwell forever with the Lord. 

Rev. Charles W. Nassau, D.D., was born in Philadelphia in 
1804. He was the oldest son of the late William Nassau, who 
was ordained as an elder of the Pine Street Church by the Rev. 
Dr. Archibald Alexander, and was subsequently an elder in the 
Second Presbyterian Church till his death. He served also as 
Treasurer of the Board of Domestic Missions, which position 
he filled most acceptably for many years without remuneration. 
At an early age Charles was admitted to membership of the 
Pine Street Church, under the ministry of Rev. Ezra Stiles Ely, 
D.D. He prepared for college under Rev. Dr. Wiley, and was 
graduated from the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 
sixteen, with the first honor of his class. He pursued his theo- 
logical course at Princeton, and was licensed to preach by the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia at the age of twenty. Although suf- 
fering from close application during his college and seminary 
course, he was soon called into active service as the pastor of 
the First Presbyterian Church of Norristown, Pa., where he was 
ordained and installed at the age of twenty-one years. The 
year following he was married to Hannah, the second daughter 
of the late Robert Hamill, who was a prominent elder in the 



34 IN MEMORIAM. 

church, and one of its most liberal supporters from its organiza- 
tion until his death. 

After continuing his faithful labors as pastor for two years, 
Mr. Nassau's health began to fail. Unwilling to release him, 
his congregation gave him leave of absence for six months. 
During this period he rode on horseback to Pittsburgh, and 
subsequently into New York State and New England, and at 
its close resumed his labors in improved health. A single ad- 
ditional year's application to the duties of his charge induced a 
serious throat affection, which compelled him subsequently to 
resign. A strong testimony to the pleasant relations which ex- 
isted between the young pastor and his people was found in the 
fact that, when his health was again restored, he was invited to 
return to his former pastorate. Dr. Nassau continued through 
life to suffer more or less from the affection of his throat, which 
for several years laid him aside from active ministerial duty. 

In 1835 he was appointed Professor of Hebrew and Exegeti- 
cal Greek in the theological department of Marion College, 
Missouri. He remained two years in the West in connection 
with that institution. Returning to the East in 1838, he ac- 
cepted the appointment of Professor of Ancient Languages in 
Lafayette College, Easton, Pa. This chair he filled under the 
administrations of the Rev. Drs. Yeomans and Junkin. He 
was on terms of great intimacy with both these able and excel- 
lent men, and succeeded the latter in the office of President of 
the College, He was chosen to this responsible position, and 
inaugurated by the Board of Trustees, after a thorough knowl- 
edge of his ability and superior scholarship for a period of 
eight years. It was during his presidency that the College 
passed under the care of the Synod of Philadelphia. At this 
time, too, the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on 
him by the Trustees of Jefferson College, Pennsylvania. The 
two Baccalaureate addresses delivered by him during his presi- 
dency are among his papers, and are models of directness and 
simplicity, elegant diction, and beautiful chirography. What- 
ever he undertook he did well. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



35 



In 1850 Dr. Nassau had two proposals to take charge of 
an institution for the education of young ladies. His ripe 
scholarship and well-known character as a truly Christian 
gentleman fitted him admirably for such a position. His 
desire to secure for his own daughters the best opportuni- 
ties for a thorough education induced him to yield to the 
urgent solicitations of the friends of the Young Ladies' 
Seminary at Lawrenceville, New Jersey, to become its head. 
He accordingly resigned the Presidency of the College at 
Easton and removed to Lawrenceville. Here he was eminently 
successful, and accomplished the most important work of his 
life. For a quarter of a century he devoted himself to the 
training of young ladies. His pupils were gathered from every 
section of the country, and many of them will call to remem- 
brance the happy days spent at the Lawrenceville Female 
Seminary under the care of Dr. and Mrs. Nassau, 'and drop a 
tear on receiving the intelligence that death has borne them 
both away. 

Dr. Nassau was gifted in prayer and mighty in the Scriptures ; 
an able preacher, an indefatigable worker, a thorough instruc- 
tor, and was ever ready fot every good word and work. While 
Professor at Lafayette College, and before his election to the 
Presidency, he supplied a neighboring church for several years. 
He was respected and beloved by all who knew him, and espe- 
cially by his brethren in the ministry. The members of the 
Presbytery of New Brunswick, with which he was connected 
for the last twenty-eight years of his life, will mourn that they 
shall see his face no more. 

As one after another left the home circle to become the 
head of another family, and the oldest daughter joined her 
brother, the Rev. R. Hamill Nassau, at the Gaboon Mission 
in Africa, Dr. Nassau retired from his field of labor at Law- 
renceville, greatly to the regret of the community in which he 
lived. He took up his abode in Trenton. Here, like his Mas- 
ter, he went about doing good. The throng that filled the 
Fourth Presbyterian Church on the occasion of Mrs. Nassau's 



56 



IN MEMORIAM. 



funeral, as the deeply impressive services were conducted by 
Drs. Richardson, Hall, and the Rev. S. M. Studdiford, and the 
body was borne away to the grave ; and again, when in the 
short space of six weeks similar services were conducted at Dr. 
Nassau's funeral in the same place, was strong evidence of the 
high estimation in which this devoted servant of God and his 
excellent wife were held. 

Side by side their bodies were laid in the beautiful and quiet 
resting-place of the dead in Lawrence Cemetery, to gather 
strength and beauty for the coming of the Lord. 

A contributor in the Evangelist furnishes the follow- 
ing : 

REV. CHARLES W. NASSAU, D.D. 

The departure of this honored servant of Christ will fill 
many hearts with sorrow. Unobtrusive and retiring, almost 
to a fault, he would not push himself into notice, but his labo- 
rious and faithful life told with great power upon all who came 
within its influence in the various relations he sustained — 
domestic, educational, and ministerial. His life was singularly 
complete and happy. 

Born of pious parents, in Philadelphia, and nurtured in the 
admonition of the Lord, he early gave himself to Christ and 
his service. He was graduated at the University of Pennsyl- 
vania in his seventeenth year, and with the first honors of his 
class. Pursuing his theological studies, partly under private 
instructors, and partly at the Theological Seminary at Prince- 
ton, he was licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia when 
just twenty years of age. His ripe scholarship and earnest 
piety soon attracted the attention of the churches, and he was 
ordained and installed over the churches of Norristown and 
Providence, Pa. A very happy and promising pastorate of 
about three years was terminated by failing health ; the churches 
and the Presbytery reluctantly consented to release him from 
his charge. It shows how strong a hold he had upon the atfec- 



IN MEMORIAM. 



37 



lions of his people, that, notwithstanding his continued feeble 
health, after eight years' absence they cordially invited him to 
return to his pastorate. He was constrained to decline their 
call, and then consecrated his life to the work of teaching. 

He accepted the chair of Ancient Languages in Lafayette 
College, and in that capacity served the college for ten years, 
during the latter two years discharging, in addition to his pro- 
fessional work, the duties of the Presidency. 

While Dr. Nassau was at Lafayette, that college, like so 
many of our collegiate institutions in the earlier periods of 
their history, passed through one of those seasons of depres- 
sion when nothing but the faithful, self-denying, hopeful spirit 
and toil of some one sustains its existence. Dr. Nassau proved 
that tried friend to Lafayette, and at great cost to himself of 
strength and sacrifice, aided in carrying it through its crisis. 

Dr. Nassau then saw an opening for large usefulness in the 
Female Seminary at Lawrenceville, N. J., and removed to that 
place in the fall of 1850. To the work of education in that 
institution he devoted his ripe years, his large experience, his 
great wisdom and tact. He was not merely successful in im- 
parting knowledge, but exerted a salutary moulding influence 
upon the hearts and character of his pupils. For nearly 
twenty-five years class after class left his Seminary trained 
well for the great work of life, and it may be safely said that 
few, if any, of his pupils ever left him without feeling deeply 
conscious of the blessed influence under which they had been 
trained. This long period of faithful, noble and successful 
work was followed by a few years of retirement in the pleasant 
home at Trenton. The burden of the institution so favorably 
known was laid upon other shoulders admirably fitted to sus- 
tain it ; while he gave himself up, not to rest, but with all the 
zest of early years to the ministry of the word as he had op- 
portunity. 

About seven weeks ago death entered this house, and took 
from him his beloved wife, the fit partner and helpmeet of such 
a man, a beautiful example of a pure, noble, cheerful Christian 



38 IN MEMORIAM. 

woman. The blow was heavy to bear, but he bore it with ex- 
emplary Christian resignation, bowing to the stroke without a 
murmur, and turning his eyes heavenward. 

It was apparent to all that those who had lived so happily 
together for more than fifty-two years, were not long to be sep- 
arated. It seemed to those who saw him most that he was 
already in heaven. The peace of God made his very counte- 
nance radiant, and his words were constantly of the coming 
rest. Death was not only overcome, but so completely over- 
come that there was no sign or token of any struggle. And so, 
after a painless illness, but without the infirmities so frequently 
attending age, the faithful worker found his release. He 
walked with God, and was not, for God took him. 

Dr. Nassau's character was marked for its simplicity, gentle- 
ness and strength, for the clearness of his convictions and the 
strong hold he had upon them, for tender consciousness, and 
above all, for his sincere, unostentatious and earnest piety. 
He was an Israelite, indeed, in whom there was no guile — a 
living epistle, known and read of all men. 

It has been twice said to the writer of this notice, by per- 
sons of widely different character, that whenever they saw Dr. 
Nassau they were reminded of the Saviour. He was indeed 
Christlike in his life here ; and now that he sees no longer by 
faith — sees in open vision, sees Christ as he is — he is, in a 
higher and more blessed sense, like him. 

Dr. Albert Bushnell, from the Gaboon Mission, West 
Africa, being in this country at the time, visited Dr. 
Nassau on his dying bed, and thus writes : 

We shall miss your venerable and saintly father, who al- 
ways gave us such a cordial welcome, and encouraged us by 
his intelligent zeal and faith in the cause of Foreign Missions. 
Having shown his faith by works in giving up cheerfully to the 
self-sacrificing work in Africa, two children — a beloved son and 
a daughter — his sympathy with Christ in the conversion of the 



IN MEMORIAM. 39 

heathen was deep and tender. He never regretted the sacri- 
fice he had made, nor desired their return while they had 
strength to labor efficiently in their Lord's work. I shall 
never forget that brief visit to his dying bed, when, with coun- 
tenance almost radiant, he seized my hand and with faltering 
tongue he invoked the blessing of God upon the Gaboon and 
Corisco Mission, upon his beloved children there, and upon us 
their associates in Christian work. As I retired from that 
chamber I felt an impression from the scene where heaven and 
earth seemed brought so near together. 



Mrs. P. D. Brown, of San Francisco, contributes the 
following lines : 

As shadows of the sunset fall 

On fields and meadows far and wide, 

So he whose sun went gently down, 
Left golden light on every side. 

Can this be death ? When ripened grain 

Falls to the earth in autumn time 
We do not call it death, and he 

But wakened in a fairer clime. 

He sweetly sleeps ! As when a child 
Rests gently on its mother's breast, 

So he, whose faith in Christ was strong, 
Passed calmly to eternal rest. 

With him 'tis well : no sorrow now ! 

Joined with the sainted gone before ; 
Here, chastened hearts with anguish bow — 

There, rest and peace forevermore. 

Afar across the boundless sea 

There bow to-day, 'neath Afric's sun, 

Two aching, bleeding hearts that cry, 
" Thy will, O God, not ours, be done ! " 



40 



IN MEMORIAM. 



And other children mourn their loss, 

And students on life's rugged way, 
And churches where his voice was heard, 

All mourn the man of God to-day. 

Father of love ! with chastened hearts 

His dear ones seek thine aid, 
To bear their loss with humble faith, 

To trust on, undismayed. 

These partings are of earth, but Heaven 
May be more near than mortals dream ; 

From such a Christian's life and death 
We sometimes catch a gleam 

Of that celestial land, so bright 

That faith is almost lost in sight. 

On Sabbath, September 8th, at the opening of the fall 
term, Rev. Wm, C. Cattell, D.D., the distinguished 
President of Lafayette College, made appropriate allu- 
sion to the recent death of Dr. Nassau, in an eloquent 
memorial sermon. 

Although no public announcement had been made, 
the gallery of the college chapel was crowded with Dr. 
Nassau's old and personal friends, who had received inti- 
mation of President Cattell's intention to preach such a 
sermon. The following report is taken from the Easton 
Free Press of the next day : 

The text was taken from Revelations, iii. n : " Hold that 
fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown " — a passage, 
the doctor said, which he found quoted by President Nassau 
in his last Baccalaureate address to the Senior Class at 
Lafayette. 

After a brief discussion of the text, he referred to Dr. Nassau 



IN MEMORIAM. 41 

as an illustrious example of that patient continuance in well- 
doing, and of that self-denial and personal consecration which 
should characterize those who sought for the prize of the high 
calling of God in Christ Jesus ; and it was eminently fitting 
that as we seemed to stand to-day by his new-made grave, we 
should recall the incidents of his honored and useful life, and 
thank God for his beautiful and beloved memory. 

He then gave a brief account of the life of this eminent 
scholar and educator, whose early promise of distinction and 
usefulness was amply fulfilled in the important positions he 
occupied, and the duties of which, notwithstanding his infirm 
health, he discharged with such ability and success. 

In the department of languages, to which he was mainly de- 
voted, he was a thorough and accomplished scholar ; but he 
was also eminent in other departments of learning, especially 
theology. In 1850, while President of the College, the degree 
of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him by Jefferson 
College, and never was this honor more worthily bestowed. 
As a preacher, he was sound, scholarly, and instructive. He 
delighted in the doctrines of grace, and loved to preach them. 
1 have referred to his frequent pulpit services while he was en- 
gaged in educational work at Montgomery Square, and so while 
at Lafayette, his voice was often heard in the proclamation of 
the Gospel, not only in the College Chapel, but in the pulpits 
of Easton and vicinity. Indeed, for several years he preached 
as a stated supply to the church at Durham — the same at which I 
preached during my early years at Lafayette, and where I found 
his memory cherished as that of an able and faithful preacher, 
and a devout and godly man. 

But the main work of his useful and honored life was in 
teaching. His old students at this college delight to speak of 
his learning; of his gentle but firm manner and judicious 
methods ; of his thorough work, and of his unwearied devotion 
to the welfare of his pupils. Few teachers have more com- 
pletely won the hearts of those who were placed under their 
instruction, and these personal attachments followed him 



42 



IN MEMORIAM. 



through his whole life. He was a man eminently beloved — a 
man so kind, so remote from strife, so gentle and loving and 
good that his presence in any community was a perpetual bene- 
diction. When he resigned his school at Lawrenceville, three 
years ago, the congregation of the Presbyterian Church, with 
which he was connected only as a private member, met and 
adopted a series of resolutions, expressing their love and re- 
spect for him, their profound regret at his removal, and their 
earnest wish and hope that he might yet be led to spend the 
remainder of his days in their midst ; and there are those in 
Easton who, after the lapse of nearly thirty years, still cherish, 
with like affection, the recollection of his beautiful life among 
them. 

His retirement from the college was regarded as a great loss 
to the institution, not only in view of his scholarship and his 
ability as a teacher and an executive officer, but in view of his 
exalted character and that gentle spirit which always made for 
peace amid all the diversity of views which prevailed with 
reference to the college both among the trustees and its 
friends. The two Baccalaureate addresses that he delivered 
during his presidency, both of which I have recently been per- 
mitted to examine, show not only his devotion to the college, 
but the pleasant personal relations he sustained to those who 
were associated with him in this great work. It was the cus- 
tom, in his time, for these Baccalaureates to be delivered upon 
Commencement Day, just before conferring the degrees upon 
the graduating class, and the one delivered by him in 1850 con- 
tained not only the usual address to the students, and which 
was full of affection and wise counsel, but also addresses to the 
trustees of the college and to the citizens of Easton. It is a 
tribute to his own character that he could speak in this public 
manner of the kind and cordial relations which had for so long 
existed between them. " The moment is at hand," says he, 
addressing the trustees, " when my official connection with you 
must terminate. The continuance of that connection through 
the changing scenes of the last ten years has formed an inti- 



IN MEMORIAM. 43 

macy, a close attachment, which must be my apology for thus 
publicly addressing you. In parting, my heart prompts me to 
tender you sincere and grateful acknowledgment for the confi- 
dence which induced you to trust to me posts of honor, of 
responsibility, of usefulness, in the institution under your care. 
Whilst resigning them into your hands, I have the real satisfac- 
tion of believing that the friendships formed with you continue 
unbroken ; and whilst looking to another field of usefulness, in 
accordance, as I trust, with the will of God, indicated by the 
finger of his Providence, I still retain a deep-seated love for 
the college and desire for its prosperity. Be assured, gentle- 
men, that I shall ever cherish an affectionate remembrance of 
Lafayette College and its Board of Trustees." His address to 
the citizens of Easton revealed the same kind and affectionate 
spirit. " The civic bond," says he, " which has for many years 
bound me and mine to your hospitable borough is about to be 
broken. I had sometimes entertained the thought that this 
event would never take place ; but that after a life of literary 
labor among you my dust should have been mingled and repose 
with yours in the bosom of our common mother. But God 
teaches us, in his Providence, that we are but pilgrims on the 
earth, and 'tis best that it should be so. Permit me to embrace 
this opportunity of discharging a duty which presses upon me, 
of thanking you for the friendly reception which you gave us 
when we came as strangers among you, and the many instances 
of kind regard which in social life you have manifested during 
our sojourn," and then, after expressing his regrets that the 
claims of business had left him so little time to enjoy these 
pleasant social relations, he adds : "When absent, I shall often 
in thought revisit these beautiful scenes, and, with deep interest, 
the institution that crowns Mount Lafayette. Cherish it, sus- 
tain it, consider its interests as entwined with your own. The 
glory of your scenery may be unsurpassed, wealth will doubt- 
less flow upon you, the decorations and improvements of art 
will be increased, but your true glory will mainly depend on 
your temples of religion and your ' institutions of learning.' " 



44 



IN MEMORIAM. 



Such a life, said Dr. Cattell, in the conclusion of his discourse, 
has lessons for all who were connected with the college. To 
the teachers it should be a renewed inspiration as they turn to 
the great work which God has given them to do in the same 
halls of learning that witnessed this good man's labors and 
prayers. To the students who were looking forward to coming 
years it showed the attractiveness of a pure, unselfish life that 
won the praise of men and the approbation of God. 



In Jlhrnoriflm. 



Rev. Charles W. Nassau, D.D., 

Died August 6th, 1878, 

AND 

Mrs. Hannah H. Nassau, 

Died June 2ht, 7878. 



NEW YORK : 
TROWS PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, 
205-213 East Twelfth Street. 
1879. 



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